Category: Event

Boundaries

Recent Paintings & an Interactive Performance

The Factory
Opening: Capitol Hill Artwalk
November 14, 2019
6 pm to 11 pm

States of Being Traced will be performed throughout the evening.

Boundaries, Recent Paintings and an Interactive Performance is an exhibition of Claire Brandt’s paintings and a performance of States of Being Traced, her interactive drawing project. Brandt’s work is about embodiment—what it feels like and what it means to be in a body.  Boundaries explores this in terms of movement (time and space), singularity, and community. Brandt believes that what we are in one moment is different, and the same, from moment to moment. We are multitudes and we are one.

Brandt creates her paintings working from life and from photographs, but not photoshop. As a painting progresses, it develops its own internal logic, telling the artist what it needs. The end result is always a surprise to her.

States of Being Traced is a collaborative work made with volunteer models. Each model strikes a pose for a minute or two while the artist makes a whole body trace of him/her/them. The tracings layer on top of each other, creating an accumulation of figures and a whole, abstract drawing that captures a community’s fleeting form and movement.

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Thanks to everyone who came and saw the show!

Jasmyne Keimig wrote about my painting, Proto (Tryptich) on the Stranger’s Blog, aka The Slog. Read what she said»

The Factory

1216 10th Ave
Seattle, WA 98122
United States
Directions

Photos from the show

All work is from my States of Being Project


SBT at the Torpedo Factory

States of Being Traced at the Torpedo Factory Art Center

The Late Shift: Memento Mori Friday, October 11, 2019, 7 to 10 pm

Come and be traced! Working with event visitors and community, I’ll create a floor-based body trace drawing at the Torpedo Factory Art Center’s October Friday evening open house. Kids are welcome!

Registration for the Late Shift is requested, but not required.

The Torpedo Factory Art Center
105 N. Union St. 
Alexandria, VA 22314

Directions

Tracing my nieces at the Torpedo Factory Art Center. Photo by Katie Daugert.

States of Being Traced Project Page>>

Finished Project


SBT Cross Pollinate 2019

States of Being Traced at Cross Pollinate 2019

July 14, 2019 10 am to 3 pm

Mini Mart City Park

I will be tracing people in chalk throughout the day. Please come out and join in the project. 

Cross Pollinate is Part of the Georgetown Garden Walk. For more information, pleas see the links below:

States of Being Traced Project  | Cross Pollinate |  Georgetown Garden Walk | Mini Mart City Park

directions

6525 Ellis Ave S. 
Seattle, WA 98180

Click on images below to see larger.

Finished Project


Spring Open Studios 2019

Inscape Arts Open House


12 to 6pm, May 4, 2019
I am in Studio #113 on the first floor, come and say hello!

Join us for our semi-annual open house! See new work by 30+ artists, support local makers, and get lost in our beautiful historic building with five floors of open studios! 

There will be an exhibition, WS is BS*: Contemporary Non-Western Indigineity, in the First Floor Gallery, presented by SPoCS (Seattle People of Color Salon)

*White Supremacy is Bullshit

815 Seattle Blvd. South
Seattle WA 98134

More Information

SBL LaPop

States of Being Live at LaPop, Washington D.C.

Performances March 21 – 23

Reception 
Friday, March 22, 2019, 7 – 10 pm

Performances with Volunteer Models
Thursday, March 21, 7 – 10 pm
Friday, March 22, 7 – 10 pm 
Saturday, March 23,  1 – 4 pm

Workshop
Sunday, March 24, 1 – 4 pm

Exhibition
March 21 – April 28, 2019

Location
1847 Columbia Road NW, Washington D.C. 20009

Free and open to the public

The finished work will be on view at the LaPop Gallery through April 28, 2019

I am excited to present States of Being Live, at LaPop, a cultural salon, in Washington D.C., this March.

States of Being Live is a collaborative, community work of life-size-life-drawings that I will make with volunteer models. Each person will pose for about 20 minutes while I draw a whole body portrait of her/him/them. The portraits will layer on top of each other, creating an accumulation of figures and a whole, abstract drawing of the community in which individuals are visible.  See the gallery below for images of previous SBL projects.

If you would like to try your hand at making your own life-size-life-drawing, On Sunday, March 24, I will hold a workshop for people interested trying this project.

To be scheduled to volunteer, use the button below to email me. Please indicate what day and time you’d like to be there. Each model session will take about 20 minutes.
volunteer to model

Previous States of Being Live Projects


2018 Winter Open House

Inscape Arts Open House


12 to 6pm, December 8, 2018
Find me in Studio #113 on the first floor.

There will be a Makers’ Market in the lobby, pop-up shows throughout the building including A Mountain’s Pulse in the basement gallery, Che Sehyun on the High Wall beginning at 6pm, and a solo show by Nina Vichayapai in the first floor gallery.

815 Seattle Blvd. South
Seattle WA 98134

More Information

Photos from the Open House


Horse and Art Research Program Residency, Summer 2018

Residency

Above: Me laying back on Arabell the horse. Photo by Beáta Veszely.
Overview

Last August I spent two weeks at the Horse and Art Research Program in Barnag, Hungary. Barnag is a small village near Lake Balaton, about two hours from Budapest. The program is the creation of Beáta Veszely and Marton Szmercsanyi and it brings together of artwork and horsemanship. You can learn more about HARP  here. The residency takes place on a farm where Beáta and Marton train horses and riders, and teach and practice traditional Hungarian horse archery.

There were three residents in my session, including me. Originally there were supposed to be six of us, but at the last minute, plans for three of our compatriots changed. Georgia, Lara and I were the three who made it. We lived and worked closely together, sharing a large yurt to sleep in as well as communal kitchen and workspaces. Our days varied, but generally we had a block of time for artwork, occasional field trips, time to work with horses, lunch together, archery instruction, and the odd nap in the heat of the afternoon. Some evenings we gathered to watch movies about the academic art of riding or to share our past work. Beáta and Marton were involved throughout, sharing their love of horses and knowledge of art and the Balaton region.

Art

Because I traveled so far to attend HARP, most of the works I made while I was there are small watercolors or drawings. I often made gesture drawings from watching the horses, or horses and riders, and then created more finished works from them in watercolor. This was a fruitful way of working for me, and a method that I continue to use. During my travels, I also began to make paintings of myself experiencing things, such as laying back on Arabell the horse, creating from what I remembered feeling in the moment, rather than from looking at something. This also is a practice I am continuing now that I am home.

As a group we did a collaborative performance with Arabell the horse. The sparks for this came from the prior year’s print of Arabell, my large gestural drawings of people and animals, and Beáta’s inspiration. We created a charcoal wall drawing of Arabell by tracing her multiple times as she stood near the wall in the common room. She moved gently and we captured the movement quickly. We performed this for an audience during our show at the end of the residency. 

See the artwork

Horses

The afternoons in August in Hungary are very hot. In the evenings, one it cooled off, we worked with the horses. I have no formal training with horses, but do have experience with them from spending time with my aunts and their horses as a child. Still, I was pretty nervous around them in the beginning, I was a child a long time ago.

Beáta and Marton led us in basic exercises of natural horsemanship. In this method, we walked with the horses first, to establish a connection. The horses wore bridles, but did not have a bit. And, we generally used only a saddle pad—no saddle or stirrups. We were taught that the most important way rider and horse communicate is with the seat, all else is secondary.

At the end of the first evening of riding the horses, Marton instructed us to lay back. I had seen this in some of the videos they showed us, but I was nervous to do it myself. But, I did it. And it was wonderful to feel Arabell under my back, to let go and trust her. When I asked Marton what the purpose of that had been, he said “for you, you didn’t think you could do it.” He was right.

Most evenings I worked with Arabell, who is a gentle and patient horse. However, I did not fully master communicating well with her. I always was hesitant, asking rather than telling her to do something. This was not a very successful way for us to work together. I felt we had a relationship of mutual annoyance—she was annoyed with me because I did not say resolutely what to do, and I was annoyed with her because she did not do what I asked her to do.  Still, I enjoyed working with her and through the lessons, I became much more comfortable with horses than I had been when I first arrived at HARP.

Archery

The first afternoon at HARP we watched Beáta and Marton train in horse archery with their group. They rode a track that passed a rotating target. Each mounted archer cantered down the track, both hands occupied with bow and arrows, and fired as many arrows as they could into the target. They began firing as they approached and rotated in their seats as they passed the target, firing for as long as it was physically possible to aim at the target. It was very impressive. While watching them practice, I drew, capturing gesture drawings of the way they worked.

We learned the basics of archery while at HARP. Lara first taught me as she had learned the previous year. I can’t say I was a natural at it, but I enjoyed it a great deal. Beáta gave us more instruction over the course of the residency, enough that I bought a bow to take home and I was able to shoot from horseback on the last days at the farm.

Beáta and Marton are affiliated with Kassai Lajos “the creator of the modern version of horseback archery” and have worked and trained with him extensively. Late in our residency, we spent a day at The Valley, Kassai’s headquarters. The day began with a show performed by the young people who had just completed their summer training. This was followed by a large, family-style potluck meal and an afternoon of training for the adults. Georgia and I spent the afternoon watching the training, visiting with the horses on the farm, and practicing with our own new bows.

Summer Fields

Each morning the horses were let out of their paddock to graze in the fields. For the first few days, after breakfast, I went in search of them. The fields were large, with a copse of trees running lengthwise through them. The grasses were high and filled with bugs and flowers and sticky burrs that got caught on my pants and socks and in the horses’ manes. The horses roamed far and wide. When it was clear I wouldn’t find the horses and get back on time for our next activity, I stopped where I was and made drawings of what I saw right there.

When I went on my own, I was never successful at finding the horses in the time I had. But, I loved walking out in search of them. Each time I went, I got better at finding the pathways the horses made. And walking was much easier when I traveled on one of their paths. The fields were a gentle uphill away from the farm, and walking up there provided a view of the valley we were in. I could see the steeple of the Catholic Church across the road from the farm, as well as far away hills on the other side of the valley. It was quiet except for the buzzing of the bugs.

After a few unsuccessful missions, someone suggested I follow the horses out in the morning. A few days later, they were released to the pasture a little later than usual, and I followed them.

At first I gave them a lot of space, drawing from far away. As I got more comfortable, I edged closer, they were aware I was there as I drew nearer. One got curious and came to check me out. She nuzzled me in a friendly fashion, and stayed close. The rest of the group started to drift towards me. And then, suddenly, all six were right around me. I got nervous then, what would I do if they all wanted to nudge me at once? I knew they wouldn’t hurt me, but after a few minutes I went in from the fields.

Sleeping

Sleeping in the yurt was quite comfortable. We each had plenty of space, a thick pad to sleep on and extra pillows and blankets, left by previous residents, to use. The first night we were there, in the early morning hours, a major thunderstorm rolled over the farm. It crashed and banged and rained hard. The yurt lit up with lightning. I lay there, exhilarated by the storm and nervous. Was a yurt a safe place to be? But, leaving the yurt and crossing the yard to the buildings did not seem like a good idea, so I stayed in bed and hoped for the best. Eventually the storm quieted and I slept again.

Each morning at 5 am, the Catholic Church across the road from the farm rang its bells. This was no subtle, one or two rings to mark the morning hour. Those bells rang and rang and rang, intending to wake the town. I always went back to sleep. At 6 am the Protestant Church at the other end of town (a block away) rang. These were much more modest and were quieter for being further away, still, I often heard them. Lastly, despite it having been light since at least 5 am, at 7, the rooster next door crowed, and every time, despite the earlier bells, I called him an asshole. And then I got up. Our hosts told us that they hardly noticed the bells after living near them. I didn’t believe that was possible. However, by the last few days of the residency, I couldn’t remember waking up to the 5 am bells.

Conclusion

My time at HARP was rejuvenating, I enjoyed the people, the horses, and the place very much. I felt alive in the world while I was there. I hope to go back sometime and see how the program evolves.

Horse and Art Research Program
www.horseandart.hu/en

Show: Surviving

Retail Therapy

October 11 – November 24, 2018
Capitol Hill Art Walk Opening: October 11, 2018 5 – 8pm, event link>>

905 E. Pike Street, Seattle WA 98122

Please join us in October for a presentation of Claire Brandt’s recent paintings. Last year Brandt was diagnosed with Stage I Breast Cancer. From the beginning, she painted her experience. Through biopsies, surgery, chemo and radiation she painted self-portraits in order to process an intensely frightening bodily experience.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, at Retail Therapy we will have information on resources for support and screening for breast cancer.

See the work

“Going through cancer was the scariest experience of my life, especially in the beginning. I was lucky, mine was an early catch and I had good medical care. Making these self-portraits was a way for me to confront and feel what was happening to me. They are record of my experience that I hope helps people understand what breast cancer means to a body. And I hope they are helpful to others who might be facing something similar—without sugarcoating it, I want them to know that there is a way through.”

– Claire Brandt

 


States of Being Live at “Does Live Art…”

Thank you to everybody who came out and supported the Does Live Art Have to be Experienced Live performance series at SOIL over the Seattle Art Fair weekend. It was great to see all the visitors to the gallery and wonderful to meet the other artists involved in the performances. I especially want to thank all who volunteered to model. And, Morgan Cahn, who conceived, curated and organized this set of performances and the subsequent show is a superstar, and I am happy to know her better through the production of “Does Live Art…”.

This project was a performance of life-size-life-drawing at the SOIL Gallery in Seattle, WA during the Seattle Art Fair 2016. For three days, August 5, 6, and 7, I drew volunteer models. Each day I worked from 1pm to 4pm. Models were people I didn’t know who were visiting the gallery, other people involved in “Does Live Art…” and friends who came to participate in my project. Altogether, I drew 20 people into one canvas.

Usually getting ready for a show involves heavy stress to finish artwork on time. It was a refreshing change to begin a show with a blank piece of canvas. From installation on, being a part of “Does Live Art…” reminded me a bit of my college days in stage production—from the down-time camaraderie to the days of performance adrenaline, the similarity was distinct, and welcome. I’d forgotten how much fun—and how much work shows involve. The aftermath is great too, I was exhausted, but uniquely satisfied by the combination of working with people, making something, and feeling the energy of the Seattle Art Fair weekend.

See below for photos of the performance. And, scroll down below the gallery to see a timelapse video of the performance weekend at SOIL.

Timelapse video of the entire Does Live Art Have to be Experienced Live performance series, August 4 – 7, 2016, at SOIL Gallery in Seattle.

SOIL Gallery Performance and Show

Does Live Art Have to Be Experienced Live?
States of Being Live at SOIL Gallery, Seattle
I am very excited to be participating in “Does Live Art Have To Be Experienced Live?” at the SOIL Gallery in Seattle. I will be performing “States of Being Live”, a durational work of life-sized-life-drawing that will be performed with volunteer models—both spontaneous visitors to the gallery, and people scheduled in advance. Each person will pose for about 20 minutes. Later drawings will layer on top of previous drawings, thus creating an accumulation of figures and a whole, un-premeditated drawing by the end of the performance. The finished drawing will stay in the gallery for the August show.

I will perform August 5, 6, and 7 from 1 pm to 4 pm at SOIL. I welcome drop-in volunteer models. Or, if you would like to schedule a session, please email me.

Exhibition – August 4 – 27
Opening durational performance August 4, 12-8pm
Weekend performance series August 5 – 7, 11am-11pm
Closing durational performance August 27, 12-5pm
Gallery hours are Th-Su, 12-5
Facebook Event
Price: Free

Location: SOIL Gallery: 112 3rd Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104

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‘Does Live Art Have To Be Experienced Live?’ is an exhibition which integrates performance and visual art. The exhibition opens with four days of Live Art showcasing a breadth of styles and themes. This performance series includes conversations, one-on-one interactions, durational works, pieces performed to and with the audience, and more. The exhibition is focussed on alternative forms of performance documentation which explores the temporal nature of Live Art.

The performance series runs August 5-7, 11am-11pm, with the themes Body, Risk, and Future. The gallery will host a noontime meal each of the three days, after which will be discussions, based on the day’s theme. In the afternoons and evenings are a full schedule of performances.

 


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